Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1887-08-08

A month later John Dolline's
| Quest" was in the hands of 10000
readers in all parts of the world, and
curiously enough, they agreed with
the editor in their Judgment Of its lit
erary quality. Ii was certainly =
sketch of very unusual kind; the
motive was subtle enough 10 arouse
| the interest of the most intellectual,
and it WAS wrought out with the most
delicate literary skill,an with bold
ness and vigor of construction which
gave it instant popularity. Every
body who read it talked about il;
the lesser newspapers copied it; two
or three leading dailies and the fore
most literary journals published edi-
tOrials on the moral aspect of the
problems presented by the unknown
writer; for the story had been pub
lished anonymously. Mr.. Parker
Ms ON Nk W ANAAlNAA win lAAAA sAAAN
letters there were people in all parts
of the country who had been wonder
fully touched by "JOhn Dolline's
| Quest" and could not content them
selves with anything short of a long
letter to the editor. The mails were
visibly increased in bulk by the cor
respOndence on this particular sub
iect. and Mr.. Parker's delight at hay-
ing brought out a new writer was a
little cooled by the additional labor
which his discovery of original talent
was costing him. Curiously enough,
he did not know who the writer was,
for no address was found on the man
uscript. and the single letter Of in
quirv had gone into the waste bas-
ket. He gave himself very little con-
Germ about the matter, however, for
il was incredible that the writer OF so
successful a story would not speedily
put herself in communication with
him, after a silence on his part which
would seem inexplicable 10 her.
Several weeks passed away without
a word or sign from the author Of
John Dolline's Quest" and Mr..
Parker was beginning TO be anxious
he wanted more work from the same
hand. and he began to fear that his
prize had been beguiled into the office
of some competitor. He was puzzled,
too, by the apparent indifference Of
the writer of story which had sold
an extra edition of the magazine, and
was in everybOdy's mouth; did she
care nothing for such success! One
evening, as he was sitting at his desk
in his room asking himself these
questions for the hundredth time. he
pulled out a package of papers from
q pigeon hole. and, 10 F, there dropped
out the original manuscripts of s'John
DOllines Quest" There was no
doubt about it: he instantly recog-
nized the peculiar hand in which il
had been written, and on the back
were the date of receipt, number and
memorandum Of acceptance. More
over, the sight of the article recalled
distinctly the fact that he had brought
/ the story home for more careful read
ing, and had placed it in his desk /;
the circumstance had entirely escaped
| him, but now they all came back in
/ flash. John Parker was thunder
struck if he had been perplexed be-
/ fore, he was hOpelessly confused now.
The original manuscript had never
been out Of his possession, and yet
Miss Ferguson had supplied a copy
over night. He looked up the issue
/ Of the magazine, and compared the
/ printed story with the manuscript in
/ his hand they were identical save in
I few phrases and turns Of express
sion. As he recalled Miss Ferguson's :
/ copy he remembered that the hand
writing was very different from that
before him. and as he recalled the
note Of inquiry he was sure that the
penmanship was the same a. that Of
the original manuscript.
He lighted a fresh cigar, and be-
gan to walk up and down the room,
seeking vainly for some solution of
the problem. He tried one theory
after another, but none Of them fitted
the fact, and finally he gave up In de-
spair; there was no rational explain
alton unless Miss Ferguson had stOl-
en- the story from the writer, which
was incredible. Mr.. Parker walked
and walked, and the longer he walk
ed and thought the more uneomfOrt-
able he felt. His feeling, II he had
analyzed il as closely as the novelist
who contributed stories 70 the maga-
zine were in the habit Of analyzing
such emotions, was warmer and more
intense than the simple editorial prob
lem would have justified the fact
that Miss Ferguson was involved
seemed To invest the circumstances
with a personal interest of kind
which he had never felt before.
The next morning Mr. Parker had
reached no conclusion, bat be had de-
cided what u do. He sent for Miss
Ferguson, and, when she presented
herself, handed her the manuscript
without word or comment. II b. had
felt any misgivings a. - the result Il
was disslpated BY the fush which dir
fused the gir's face when sbe under
stood that he had discovered her con
nectiOn with the story.